


Shine A Light in the Sky

by groovymoonshoes



Series: Defenders of Dreamweaver [2]
Category: Glee
Genre: Established Relationship, First Time, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-02-12 13:56:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2112534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groovymoonshoes/pseuds/groovymoonshoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt's senior year is shaping up to be less than the perfect one he had dreamed of. His boyfriend may be in need of some saving, and Kurt doesn't know the first thing about being the hero of the relationship. There is only so much hiding they can do in their safe haven when their newest rival is ever present…</p><p>Sequel to Perfect's Overdone. Loosely follows season 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Moving Up

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to Perfect's Overdone, and everything that applied there tends to apply here. I strongly recommend you read that first but hey, who am I to tell you how to run your life?
> 
> This fic loosely follows season 3, with a lot of reference to canon events, so I expect most of you have seen it but it isn't spoiler free.
> 
> Title from Superhero by Luke Conard.

"Kuuuuuuuuurrrrtttt," Blaine whined, catching his boyfriend's attention. Kurt glanced up from his magazine to the pool, peering over the top of his sunglasses. "Get in the water." He sighed to himself softly, but he put down his magazine and walked over to the edge of the pool, sitting down and dangling his legs in the water, Blaine swimming over to stand in front of him.

"Hi," Kurt said down to his boyfriend, still happy to be seeing him after spending so much of the summer so far together. Blaine smiled, looking up at him through his eyelashes.

"Hey, cutie. Are you getting in?" Kurt looked around the pool at all the others- Jeff was on Nick's shoulders playing chicken against Hadley and Luke; Jaz, Marley and Unique were sitting on the edge not unlike he was; Leo and Ethan were attached by the mouth to one another in a corner of the pool; and Erica was sitting on the side with her nose in a book. It was well and truly summer and he had never been more thankful for his well off prep school friends and the Duvals' pool.

"I didn't plan on it," Kurt explained, "if I take my shirt off then I'll burn and I'm not being that shirt-in-the-pool guy." Blaine hopped up onto the edge beside Kurt.

"Then we'd better get you SPF'd up." He kissed Kurt quickly, not catching much more than the corner of his mouth, and moved over towards where Kurt had been sitting before beside Erica, finding his sunscreen. Kurt hesitated for a moment before joining him, as Blaine dried his hands on a towel. At least Blaine knew to dry off his hands- and Kurt silently thanked whatever god was listening for the fact he hadn't bothered to dry off anything else, his chest still dripping. "Okay, Kurt, shirt off."

"Like them forceful, huh, Kurtsies?" Erica teased, not even looking up from her book. Kurt rolled his eyes before he unbuttoned his shirt, thankful that no one other than Blaine was even looking his way.

"Just remember that I don't tan like you do," he said, putting his shirt down on the vacant chair he had been sitting in. Blaine really did tan beautifully, and he had managed to avoid any bad tan lines by only wearing a shirt when it was absolutely necessary.

"You do your chest, I'll get your back," Blaine said, squirting some of the cream into Kurt's hand.

"I'm part albino," Kurt said, breaking the silence that had formed between them.

Blaine laughed behind him, continuing to rub at his back and shoulders. "Did you just make a Twilight reference?"

"Did you just make it a Twilight reference?"

"Touché." Blaine grabbed his shoulders and gently prompted him to turn, kissing him again. He softly ran his hands down Kurt's sides, letting them rest at his hips. "Done with your chest?"

"Yeah," Kurt affirmed, taking Blaine's outstretched hand and letting himself be pulled towards the pool, following Blaine in jumping in.

"You know I don't care if you don't tan, right?" Blaine said, draping his arms around Kurt's neck, "I happen to think your alabaster skin is beautiful."

"It really doesn't bother you that I permanently look like I don't go outside?" he closed his arms around Blaine's waist, only noticing the contrast in their skin for a moment before meeting his eyes again.

"Not in the slightest. You're so pretty. Like a porcelain doll." Kurt smiled, leaning his forehead against Blaine's. "And your skin is flawless, honestly. You're one of those lucky teenagers who avoided acne entirely and got away with a few _adorable_ freckles." Blaine kissed him a few times on the nose. "Can I keep going or are you going to get all self-conscious on me?"

"No, this is okay," Kurt said, not wanting to admit how much he was enjoying the attention. Before Blaine he had never been able to imagine anyone finding him attractive, but the longer they were together the more he was willing to accept it and found he even enjoyed it. And, when his boyfriend was as attractive as Blaine, it somehow made all of his compliments feel like they came from a different place.

"Good. Because I could go on forever, Kurt. You're _beautiful_." Kurt couldn't wait any longer then and pressed his lips against Blaine's, pleased when Blaine opened his mouth slightly to allow his tongue access.

"I mean it, you know," Kurt said as they broke apart again in the need for air, "I'm ready to have everything with you. Just as soon as you are."

"Can we have this conversation when we aren't around all our friends?" Blaine said, kissing Kurt beneath his jaw, "but I'm at least ready to talk about it."

"Okay. How about the conversation that we've been avoiding the last couple of weeks about whether or not you'll return to Dalton after the summer?"

Blaine laughed. "What is it with you and wanting to have a deep talk right now?" Kurt pulled Blaine a tiny bit closer in his arms.

"I don't know. But if you want to transfer you should let your parents know sooner rather than later," Kurt said. As much as he would love to have Blaine at school with him every day, there were a few hurdles to jump first- Blaine wasn't in zone for McKinley, to start with, and he did require parental permission, commute or not.

"Will you be there when I tell them?"

"Of course." Kurt paused for a moment. "Wait, is that a yes? You want to transfer?"

"Yes," Blaine said, "I know running away from my first high school removed the cause but didn't do a whole lot for the symptoms, and this would really just be running away from Sebastian…"

"Hey, no. It's not running. You're being brave, Blaine, you feel ready to step out of the Dalton prep boy shell. You know as well as I do that the person you are when you slide on that blazer isn't the person you are when you're like this. It's another costume, just like your Nightbird spandex. And Blaine, there's nothing wrong with having an escape, and Nightbird and Darcy will be there for us to slip into for a while yet, but feeling ready to lose one isn't a bad thing."

"You're so right," Blaine kissed him, "it's moving on," and again, "you've helped me to move on," and again, "and I'm not scared of the idea of public schools anymore."

"I wish _you_ were that enthusiastic about kissing me," Jeff said, poking Nick in the chest gently. Blaine just pulled Kurt in tightly for a hug, and Kurt just knew with everything he had that Blaine had a million watt grin.

* * *

Kurt felt less nervous going into the Andersons' house every time he was there. Slowly but surely he was beginning to see that they weren't the awful people he had imagined when Blaine was first telling him about his home life, but rather were two stage parents who only wanted Blaine to excel at what he did.

"Do you want to hear the song I wrote?" Blaine offered excitedly as he pulled Kurt up to his room, "I've been mucking around with guitar stuff for the last few days, and I think it's getting somewhere." Kurt sat down on Blaine's bed as Blaine retrieved the guitar, not even waiting for a response.

"I'd love to." Blaine played parts of a song, slightly fragmented. Going off a few loose sheets of paper in front of him, Kurt guessed he hadn't quite pieced it together into one song yet. "How do you find the time to write anything with all the other practice you have going on?"

Blaine shrugged. "It's not a lot. I just stick to my three times a day vocal exercises and half an hour of piano practice in the evening, which all keeps my dad happy. I'm thinking I might get a ukulele."

"You really want to bring another instrument into your rotation?" Kurt asked.

"Totally! I mean, it won't be hard to pick up, and once I've learnt some basics I can take it everywhere with me. It's compact and colourful and musical."

"So like you, then?" Blaine paused for a moment before he laughed.

"Yes, I suppose so. Thanks, I think." Kurt shuffled closer and took the guitar from Blaine's hands, setting it down before pushing Blaine down against the bed, kissing him enthusiastically. Blaine kicked the papers off the edge of the bed in his excitement, causing Kurt to pull away.

"Aww, you've gotten them all out of order," Kurt said.

"What order?" Blaine said, pulling Kurt back down happily. He really didn't seem to care about the song so much anymore, or the news of his impending ukulele purchase. They had spent a lot of the summer this way, or in some variation of it. Kissing wasn't something that got boring very often.

Blaine had just rolled them over, readjusting so that he wasn't completely on top of his boyfriend, when there was a soft knock at the door. Kurt sat up as Blaine sprung off him, and Kurt noticed how he readjusted his pants just so before he opened the door.

"You said you wanted to talk?" Delia asked hesitantly, "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I? We can talk later, but you said you wanted to wait until Kurt was here, is all." Blaine cleared his throat.

"No, no, now is good," he said, his voice just a little too high to be genuine, "Should we talk downstairs? The living room will be more comfortable for everyone, right?" Kurt couldn't see, but he imagined Blaine's mother was nodding. "Okay. Will you get dad for me?"

"Certainly. We'll see you downstairs in a bit." Blaine closed the door to his room again and extended his hand to Kurt, inhaling deeply.

"Ready?" Kurt asked as he took Blaine's hand. Blaine nodded.

"I think so."

They sat in the living room and Kurt was pleasantly surprised to find that the atmosphere wasn't as heavy as he had expected. Delia offered Kurt something to drink and he politely declined, Arthur soon joining them. Blaine didn't move his hand from Kurt's, sitting close to him on the couch.

"I want to move schools," Blaine blurted out, obviously trying to get it over with.

"Okay," Arthur said.

"Was that all, Blaine?" Delia asked, "You could have told us any time. It's really up to you."

"You're serious? You don't think I should stay at Dalton or anything?" Blaine's eyes widened. Both he and Kurt had geared up for a much more heated discussion.

"If you're not happy at Dalton then we aren't going to make you stay, Bumblebee. We moved you to Dalton for your safety though, and you obviously can't go back to the _other_ school. But if you're wanting to move schools, because that's what you feel comfortable with, then I don't think we need to be worried about your safety anymore."

"Blaine, we have been meaning to discuss something with you for a while, and we're sorry to have avoided it," Arthur said. Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt's hand, so Kurt stroked his thumb over the back of his hand, the tiniest gesture of support. "Don't look so terrified," Arthur said, and Blaine immediately sat up a little straighter. Kurt didn't think that was what Arthur had meant, but there seemed to be a lot of old habits drilled into Blaine that came out around his family that Kurt never fully understood.

"We've been looking to move, darling," Delia completed. Arthur nodded in confirmation. "We're sorry for going behind your back in this, but we've actually already viewed a couple of houses… and we found one that we wanted to put an offer on. Which is why I need to ask you something really important; Blaine, is it, perchance, McKinley that you wanted to move to?"

Blaine looked at Kurt for a moment, making his heart leap. He stroked Blaine's hand again, trying to squeeze every ounce of confidence he had into his boyfriend. "Yes."

"We _may_ have taken schools into account when we were looking to move. As you're probably aware, we don't actually live in anywhere near the right place to have you just switch. But we found a house that we love in Lima," Blaine grabbed Kurt's other hand then, and Kurt watched as he bit his lip gently, "and we thought you could board at Dalton during the week if you didn't want to change schools. But that doesn't seem to be a problem, does it?" Blaine leapt up and gathered his mom in a hug.

"Thank you," Kurt heard him say in her ear, a little too loud to be a whisper.

"It's okay, Bumblebee. This is all sounding a little bit too perfect from our side too," Delia said, releasing Blaine from the hug. He hopped neatly back over to Kurt's side, taking his hand again.

"McKinley has a glee club that made nationals and they put on a school musical every year, which you don't get at Dalton," Arthur said, "and I'm sure the fact you already have friends- and a boyfriend- there will make the transition easier for you." Blaine nodded excitedly, biting his lip softly. As it stood neither of them cared why it was that his parents supported a change, just that they did.

"Was there anything else, darling?" Delia asked.

"I don't think so."

"Do you have anything to add, Kurt?" she said, turning to him. He shook his head. "Well in that case, would either of you like a muffin? They're due to come out of the oven shortly."

"What kind?" Blaine asked excitedly. Kurt rolled his eyes fondly but didn't object as Blaine pulled him to his feet and they made their way to the kitchen behind Delia, Blaine's grin not leaving his face for a moment.

* * *

Kurt helped Blaine to pack up his bedroom after the move became official, spending countless hours singing show tunes and pop songs as they packed things into boxes and worked out what Blaine was going to need before the move, while they weren't distracted with one another. His room was mostly empty now, just two days to go. With a few shelves of knick knacks and his wardrobe left to pack away, they sat on the floor with an assortment of and ornaments and a roll of bubble wrap.

"Have you actually been to all these places?" Kurt asked as he picked up a London snow globe, cutting it a piece of bubble wrap and handing it to Blaine to tape and pack.

"Nope. Some of them are mine, but most of them come from my aunts who thought that because I had two or three they were doing me a favour by filling out my collection," Blaine said. Kurt passed him a Rome snow globe, and Blaine scrunched up his nose. "It's better than the bobble head of the Pope that my dad got. I'm lucky, really."

"We're almost done with the snow globes," Kurt assured him, selecting a Sydney globe to wrap next.

"And then we're onto all the bees?"

"Yeah."

"Great. Can we take a quick duet break, do you think?" Blaine suggested, though he was already on his feet and offering a hand to help Kurt up. He couldn't help but comply then, dancing around the room then as they sang along with _Take Me or Leave Me_ , Kurt wordlessly agreeing to sing Maureen's part as Blaine took Joanne's.

Their quick duet break seamlessly merged into a long kissing break, only stopping as Kurt got a text from his dad telling him to be sure to be home in time for dinner. Kurt sat back in his position from earlier, though he was notably closer to Blaine than before.

"Why bees?" Kurt asked, picking up one of the many ornaments.

"Don't play dumb, you've heard my mom," Blaine replied, "I've always been Bumblebee, never bee- that's why it feels a little odd when you call me B, because it's just a little close."

"I'll keep that in mind."

" _You_ can call me whatever you like, you earned that right when you became my boyfriend."

"Thanks, Valerie," Kurt teased. He loved Blaine's name too much to keep up the act for long, but he was going to milk the free reign to nicknames until it started to annoy him.

"Anyway, so somewhere along the line everyone started buying me bumblebee knick knacks. What they thought I would do with a ceramic bumblebee I'll never know." Kurt picked up a bee- a real bee, set in a heavy glass block- and looked at it for a few moments. "That one was from Cooper. He ended up with a hippo collection and he knew I couldn't outdo it."

"Bumblebees I can understand. Hippos I cannot."

"Join the club."

"When will I meet the elusive Cooper?" Kurt asked. Blaine shrugged.

"He lives in LA and he doesn't really visit all that often, not that I blame him. When he's here next, though. He'll want to meet you, since I've told him so much about how wonderful you are."

"And I'll want to meet him. I'm holding you to this one, Twinkledove."

"Do you think we'll spend more time together when I live in Lima?" Blaine asked, almost hesitantly. Why he even thought that Kurt could possibly negate it was a mystery to him.

"Of course," Kurt said, "we'll be at school together every day, even if we don't have classes together. You'll be in glee with me and we'll go to the LARP together after practice, and we can eat lunch together five times a week, if you want. And on top of that the travel time to get home before curfew will be significantly cut down. I mean, that's if you _want_ to spend more time together."

"Oh gosh," Blaine said, which Kurt found absolutely adorable, " _yes_ , Kurt, I want to spend more time with you. I was just worried that your friends wouldn't be so happy."

"Screw them. I'll spend as much time with you as I want and they're not going to stop me. Someone needs to show you to your classes while you're learning your way around, right?" Kurt winked at him, causing Blaine to turn a shade of red and cover his face with his hands for a moment.

"Okay." He was biting his lip to stifle a grin, a gesture that was becoming more and more typical for the boy. Kurt knew how to read it, and he was honestly just thrilled that Blaine was so genuinely happy as the summer went on.

"Blaine?"

"You're not going to call me some bizarre nickname this time?" Kurt laughed.

"Shut up, no. Blaine?" he repeated.

"Yes?"

"I just love you a lot, you know?"

"Mm," Blaine hummed in agreement, taking Kurt's face in his hands, "I love you a lot too," he said, pressing their lips together in a sweet kiss. Kurt could have sworn he felt Blaine's worries melt away.

* * *

"Is it weird to be leaving?" Blaine asked Delia, as he stood in front of the house with Kurt's hand in his. He had insisted that Kurt was there for moral support and company on the drive over, probably the last time either of them would be making the commute for a while.

"You would think it would be, but I'm actually sort of glad to be going," Delia said, "it was always too quiet, too big to fill all the space with life. It was nice to have a house that we weren't paying for when you were little, though, and we've just never really needed to go anywhere. It was worth more than we thought after all the renovations I'd been doing in my spare time."

"You've lived here your whole life, right?" Kurt asked Blaine, squeezing his hand supportively.

"Well, for as long as I remember, yeah."

"And is it weird for _you_ to be leaving?"

"A bit, but the Lima house is great, and I'll be close to you all the time."

"Don't start planning how you'll sneak out to see each other, it isn't happening," Arthur said, closing the car door with the last box that needed moving in place. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Blaine affirmed. Delia nodded quietly to herself, giving Blaine's shoulder a squeeze before hopping into the car with Arthur. He rolled down the window to talk to the boys, telling them that they would meet them at the house and not to hang around for too long.

"Anything left you need to do before you leave?" Kurt asked his boyfriend. Blaine nodded, pulling Kurt in for a hug. He buried his face in Kurt's shoulder for a moment, before leaning up for a quick kiss.

"Okay, now we can go. Do you want to drive though?" Kurt agreed, and Blaine sat in the passenger seat, despite it being his car. He fiddled with his iPod for a bit, filling the comfortable silence. Kurt knew Blaine was just being pensive, and he let him have his time to think. By the time they got to Lima, Blaine was singing along with his music, and directed Kurt to his house.

"Oh dear," Kurt said as they pulled up at Blaine's house. He looked at Kurt questioningly. "You live just around the corner from Rachel Berry. Looks like you'll be walking to school with her a lot."

"You're kidding," Blaine said, bumping his head against the window.

"I wish. She doesn't think that you'll give her vaguely Eurasian babies anymore, so I guess that's a plus?"

"I'm sure my dad will love that I'll have someone to do morning vocal exercises with," Blaine mused.

"I'll pick you up on your first day," Kurt assured. They got out of the car and carried what of the boxes in Blaine's car they could up to his new bedroom. It was a little smaller than his old bedroom, but at Kurt's inspection the wardrobe was slightly larger.

"I wanted this room so we wouldn't have to paint it," Blaine said, "my bed's going to go against that wall, and the bathroom is through that door there. It connects with the guest room, but we don't tend to have many of those so it's mostly mine."

"Would you like a hand unpacking these boxes or do you want to wait for all your furniture to arrive?" Kurt asked. Blaine picked up the box labelled 'B- Bathroom' and passed it to Kurt.

"Would you mind setting up this stuff in there while I bring in the other boxes?" Blaine suggested, kissing Kurt gently on the cheek before heading out. It didn't take Kurt long to establish a simple system as he filled Blaine's cabinet with his hair and skin products, just removing the last of the things from the box as his boyfriend appeared in the doorway. "You know there is no one in the world I would trust more with my products, right?" Blaine asked, closing his arms around Kurt's waist and pressing a kiss to his neck.

"I know, and I approve of your judgement." Kurt set Blaine's toothbrush in the cup and put it on the counter, the final thing that he had had to unpack.

"My parents said to check that your family is still okay with us coming over for dinner tonight," Blaine said. Kurt laughed, settling back into Blaine's embrace. It was like he hadn't met the Hudson-Hummels at all, or that he hadn't ever been to his house for dinner.

"Of course they are. Dad and Carole are excited to have you over. I think they're hopeful they'll see more of you three now that you live a bit closer."

"Great. Hey, I thought of a plus side to living so close to Rachel's. When we get drunk at her parties we can walk here. You won't even have to be the sober driver."

"Why do you want to get me drunk, Anderson?" Kurt asked teasingly.

"Maybe I'm hoping you're a handsy drunk," Blaine teased, letting Kurt turn around in his arms so they could kiss. "How do you feel about unpacking a collection of bees before dinner?"


	2. Roadtripping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Warning for (fully clothed) frottage- aka very, very light smut, but definitely on that scale.

Kurt felt himself being shaken awake, though he could have sworn he had only just closed his eyes moments before. He struggled to pull his blankets up over his face to block out the light that was burning his eyes, but ultimately failed as they were ripped away from him entirely. He whined in protest, only to find his body being covered by a much heavier feeling. He finally struggled to open his eyes to find his boyfriend lying on top of him.

"What the hell, Blaine?" he asked. Blaine pressed a kiss to his cheek and climbed off him.

"Human blanket!" he said, before being shushed. Also in his room were Jeff and Nick, though he had no idea how any of them could have gotten there. He fumbled around for his phone and lit up the screen. 2:09am.

"How did any of you get in here?" he demanded, sitting up and folding his arms across his chest. It was way, way too early for his brain to be functioning properly, but he looked at the three boys in front of him, each with stripes on their cheeks and ties around their heads. " _Why_ are you here?"

"We're kidnapping you!" Jeff said brightly, far too happily for the time of night. Nick shushed him.

"You aren't meant to tell him that he's being kidnapped," Nick reasoned.

"He was going to find out, the way he's asking questions…"

"Your dad gave me a key," Blaine said, finally answering some of his questions sensibly, "and we are taking you away for a few days."

"You're all lucky that I didn't scream and wake up my family. And you should have known not to rip my blankets off. It's the middle of summer and I could have been naked."

"Like we didn't consider that," Nick said, "we figured none of us were really losing anything by seeing your dick, should it have been on display."

"Except Blaine's virginity, but that's such a small price to pay," Jeff added. Blaine turned a delightful shade of pink and punched Jeff in the arm. Kurt couldn't bring himself to be embarrassed too, but it seemed as though Blaine was more than filling the quota for the both of them.

"Can't this wait until morning?" Kurt asked. All three of the boys shook their heads.

"We," Nick said, though Blaine shook his head and pointed to himself, "already packed your bag for you. There's coffee in the car. Now get dressed and meet us downstairs. You have ten minutes. Go." Nick pushed Jeff out of the door to give Kurt some space, and Blaine followed. Kurt sighed heavily, but he stumbled through his morning routine and packed up his skin and hair products, his various chargers, and whatever other small details he didn't trust Blaine to have remembered. He was sure he had twice as much as the others by the time he walked downstairs, but he felt ready enough to leave.

"Coffee," Kurt demanded, and he was met with a travel mug and a kiss from his boyfriend.

"Morning, sunshine," Blaine said, pulling Kurt out to the car and sitting down in the backseat with him. With all of Kurt's things and the four boys safely in the car, they hit the road. Blaine unclipped his seat belt and slid over to the middle seat, clipping himself back in. He offered his arms to Kurt, who happily rested against his shoulder. "You can go back to sleep," Blaine offered.

"I'm too awake for that now. Can you tell me where we're going yet?" He was met only with silence. "Fine. You know, I expected Jeff to be a road trip singer."

"I'm glad you asked," Jeff said, firing up his iPod and selecting something. The car was filled with the familiar tune of the overture to _Chicago_ , with its easy segue into _All That Jazz_. "You like musicals, right?"

"Of course."

"I already knew that, I just realised I'd never specifically heard you say it… Unless you want to listen to I Fight Dragons. I have their album on here, and _The Geeks Will Inherit the Earth_ is a great car song."

"Do you ever shut up about that band?" Blaine asked. Jeff nodded, but Nick shook his head. Kurt couldn't begin to imagine the weight of Nick's simple action. Jeff was already excitable as it was, and there was little doubt that he did obsessions to the max.

"But Blainers, _Gameboy Colour noises._ "

"You'd think I hadn't heard any of this before," Blaine thought aloud, earning a sympathetic nod from Nick. If he hadn't been driving, Kurt would have expected him to have gone out of his way to counsel him further, perhaps offer a hug in sympathy.

"So I really don't get to know where we're going," Kurt said.

"Pretty much. We should be there by breakfast. There may be a show in it for you," Nick said, "if you're awake enough you'll know those are hints." So the place was within about a four or five hour range of Lima and they were going to a show of some sort. That didn't narrow it down too much, but he thought they were probably going further afield than Columbus (which wasn't worth more than day trip), but not so far as Broadway.

"We'll hit New York on the next one," Blaine promised, even though Kurt hadn't made any of his musings publicly.

"You already went to New York once for me," Kurt said, thinking back to Nationals. He had never expected that his boyfriend would actually be there to support him, but Blaine had held true to his promise and when Kurt had had any spare time Blaine was right there beside him, the pair falling in love with the city together and basking in the chance to hold hands and kiss one another in public at any given moment, feeling far safer than they did in Ohio.

"I did indeed, and when you run off to the big city for college I'll visit you all the time."

"I could go to OSU," Kurt said. All three of the other boys laughed, and Blaine kissed the top of his head when he saw the way his boyfriend was pouting.

"Aww, Kurt," he said, "It's not that we don't trust your judgement, we just know you better than that." Kurt sighed in defeat.

"You're the only reason I would even think about staying in Ohio. Getting out of the small town has been my dream for so long, and about as soon as I realised I was gay- long before I came out- I wanted to get to somewhere less homophobic. But being somewhere I can hold hands with the love of my life seems a little bit pointless without him there."

"Well isn't that just fucking adorable," Nick said, his voice a little too full of sarcasm.

"You should know that people get deep and gay at three in the morning," Kurt reasoned, "have you not ever been to a sleepover?"

"Probably not the sort of sleepovers you have," Nick said, "I play video games all night and eat cold pizza."

"You're right, teenage girls perform ritual sacrifices in between chick flicks and popcorn."

"Oh snap," Jeff interjected.

"Believe it or not I've actually had boys stay over at my house before," Jeff wiggled his eyebrows, "and not Blaine kind of boys. Like I have, on occasion, actually hung out with Finn and the glee guys. It's fun, they ask me what their girlfriends have been saying to me and if girls actually experiment with one another."

"And?" Nick asked hopefully.

"The glee girls haven't mentioned you once and the only ones I've seen make out are Santana and Brittany but they aren't really experimenting. I mean, I've always been suspicious of the Rachel and Quinn thing, but who knows?"

"Wait, Rachel and Quinn?" Blaine said, "As in Finn's on again off again girlfriends? Like love triangle stuff?"

"I don't know who they are but I'm intrigued," Jeff added, seemingly as though he just needed to constantly participate in conversation happening around him. Kurt hadn't meant to be exclusively name dropping, but gossip was gossip.

"Are you surprised?" he asked Blaine.

"Yes," said Jeff. Perhaps he just got bored if he didn't hear the sound of his own voice after a while.

"Less than you would think," said Blaine thoughtfully. The conversation seemed to stop there- Kurt was the only one with New Directions gossip and Blaine was the only other one who knew who any of the people in question.

"Nick, we're going to need more coffee," Kurt said, with enthusiastic agreement from Jeff.

"We'll stop as soon as there's somewhere to do so," Nick promised, "but you two are in charge of ordering. You know, decaf for Jeff and all." There definitely wasn't any protest from Kurt and Blaine.

* * *

A few hours later Nick was parking the car outside a diner and announcing their arrival. Kurt, who had somehow managed to doze off, glanced around the unfamiliar street for clues. He looked blankly at the trio he had travelled with, and they all looked right back.

"So?" Kurt said. Blaine shrugged, but just by his grin it was clear how unsuccessful his trying to play dumb was.

"Breakfast!" Jeff said, clapping his hands together once and walking towards the diner with Nick in tow. Kurt rolled his eyes and followed, joining the others at the table.

"Do I ever get to know where we are? Are you going to show me some landmark or something?" Kurt was getting tired of the whole kidnapping routine they had established. They were there now and he wasn't going home without them, and wherever they were honestly couldn't be worse than Lima. Nick and Jeff exchanged a look in decision.

"We're in Chicago," Nick finally said.

"They wanted to drive past the Cook County Jail and see if you get it then," Blaine said, as if trying to fill some blanks for Kurt, who dropped his head onto the table.

"That would explain the Movie Cast Recording we were listening to in the car," Kurt said, piecing it together finally, "We sang _Cell Block Tango_ together and everything."

"Exactly."

"When you woke me up at two this morning, I don't think you can be upset that I didn't understand your clues."

"Oh, we aren't," Nick said, "So what are we having for breakfast?"

An hour, three stacks of pancakes, and a plate of French toast later, they all piled back into Nick's car, Jeff now allowed to sit in the front seat again after Nick had exiled him to the backseat. Jeff navigated from the GPS on his phone, and soon enough they pulled up outside a house and Jeff hopped out of the car. When neither of the others moved, Kurt was beginning to get confused again.

"Why are we here but not going inside?" He asked. Nothing made sense to him anymore. At least the other three seemed onto it enough that Kurt could trail around behind them.

"This is Jeff's cousin's house," Blaine said, "where we're staying so that we have adult supervision."

"And we aren't going inside because…?"

"No one warned them we were coming," Nick admitted, "woops." Kurt was immediately infinitely more concerned by that suggestion than Blaine and Nick, and it made him wonder just how many times they had made similar trips. Blaine was usually an intense pre-planner, to begin with.

Jeff ran back outside to the car and sat down again, turning around as best as he could so that he was somewhat facing all three of the others. "Nate is cool with us staying, he just had some questions about sleeping arrangements. Like, he wasn't sure who was dating who. He sort of shook his head and told us we would have to share beds anyway and that it was up to us as to who went where. I mean, are you two comfortable sharing a bed? I know you haven't…. you know…. yet."

"You don't know that," Kurt quipped. He was far too used to people making assumptions like that, and his response was almost immediate. It wasn't lying at all, just prolonging the truth. Blaine smirked beside him.

"Have you?" Nick asked.

"….no. But we have shared a bed before, we'll do just fine."

"Great. Now let's take our things inside." The group all claimed their bags and were shown to their rooms in the "guest house". It was nothing too fancy, but the garage had been converted into a small apartment with two bedrooms, each scarcely bigger than the queen sized beds inside them. Kurt put his bags down and cracked open the suitcase that the others (or mostly Blaine, as he gathered) had packed for him, and was actually happy with what was there for him to work with. He had never been the nicest to Blaine about his ability to choose outfits for him (he could recount many _you are NOT touching my wardrobe_ conversations), but he thought that he might have to reconsider that in the future. Even with a style different from his own, Blaine had chosen an appropriate selection to work with what Kurt would like.

Once they had "unpacked", Kurt flopped down onto the bed, and no one dared to disturb him while he napped.

* * *

That night, Blaine and Kurt went out to dinner in a nice restaurant, finally away from Nick and Jeff for more than a couple of minutes. They had decided to eat dinner elsewhere and they would meet up again before going into the theatre to see a musical. No one had disclosed for Kurt what it was they were seeing, but they promised that it was the last of the surprises.

"Have you done this trip a lot?" Kurt asked Blaine, hoping to finally see some sensible conversation about why they were doing what they were and how he was so relaxed about it all.

"A couple of times, but I was invited, you know? Like I didn't immediately expect to come just because I came last year. But then they decided that you should come, and I thought that you would really love to get away from Ohio for a few days."

"How long _is_ a few days?"

"We'll go home the day after tomorrow. We'll go to the Bean tomorrow, but we usually just hang out with Nate and stuff."

"Nate who cares suspiciously little about letting teenage couples share beds in his house."

"Yeah. Um. I think you'll find that's why Nick and Jeff invited us over other people. They knew that the house would be a good place for, uh, sex," Blaine said, lowering his voice slightly so as to not attract too much attention from the people dining around them, "for them! Not us, I wasn't assuming… Uh…" Blaine was turning redder by the second. He cleared his throat, grabbing his water glass. Kurt took the chance to steer the conversation and save Blaine from the tight corner he had backed himself into.

"So Nick and Jeff are sleeping with one another?" Kurt asked. Gossip was an easier thing to talk about than themselves. If anyone knew for sure it would be Blaine.

"I believe so, yes. I mean, last I heard Jeff was a virgin, and now he doesn't stop telling me that I need to bed you. Says things about how I'm the last one to do it and all that." Kurt understood where he was coming from. He wasn't concerned about being the last of his friends, since he knew that at the very least he still had Mercedes- sweet, innocent Mercedes who was from a religious family and would stay sweet and innocent for at least another year or two.

"And Nick?" Kurt asked. Now he was just curious. He didn't have these discussions very often with his male friends.

"He's slept with girls, but uh, yeah, pretty sure he's the one involved in Jeff's new sexual confidence." Kurt nodded in understanding.

"I'm sorry that they bother you about us."

"It's okay. I'm used to it. So long as I don't have to _hear_ it, I'm okay with knowing that they're sleeping with one another, too. I'm happy they're happy and that they know with certainty that they like each that way."

"You're a good friend, Blaine. They're lucky to have you."

"And _I'm_ lucky to have _you_ after I woke you up this morning," Blaine teased.

"Damn right you are," Kurt said, snapping his fingers at the waiters, "now where is our cheesecake?"

That night they arrived home after seeing _Company_ , a musical that Kurt had grown up loving even though he had never been old enough to fully grasp the themes that surrounded the married couples in their thirties. "Which couple do you think we are?" Blaine asked, as he loosened his tie. Kurt sat down on the bed and pulled his shoes off.

"I don't know. I think I'm Joanne, though," Kurt said.

"Do you mean that or do you just really like _Ladies Who Lunch_?" Kurt shrugged.

"A bit of both. I think the real question is whether or not Bobby is gay." Blaine began unbuttoning his shirt. Kurt wasn't exactly sure when they suddenly had gotten comfortable changing in front of one another when every other time one or the other had gone into the bathroom.

"He seems to enjoy sleeping with April a lot. Is not marrying a woman when you're thirty-five really indicative of homosexuality?" Blaine asked. Kurt thought about it for a moment, finally getting on with getting changed himself. He seemed to have gotten distracted by Blaine's bare chest.

"I don't plan to marry a woman ever," Kurt replied, "but you would think being married to a man would make it more obvious than not marrying a woman." The thought hung silently in the air while they both finished dressing and Blaine climbed into the bed. "I still need to do my skincare routine," Kurt explained.

"That's okay. I don't mind watching you work." Under Blaine's gaze Kurt cut a few corners, suddenly a little bit self-conscious.

"You think I'm ridiculous," Kurt stated, watching as his boyfriend laughed and shuffled slightly further into the middle of the bed, creeping over into Kurt's empty side.

"I think you're amazing."

"And you're going to feel that way still when you're fifty and have wrinkles and I've stopped aging at forty-four."

"Maybe you can walk me through your routine tomorrow?" Blaine suggested. He pulled the blankets around himself a bit tighter. "I'm a little bit busy pre-warming the bed for you right now, but I can commit to tomorrow night."

"Sure, that could be fun." Kurt put the lids on all of his jars and slid into the bed beside his boyfriend.

"You have a little…" Blaine said, swiping his thumb across Kurt's chin. "There you go." Blaine left his hand in place cupping Kurt's jaw as he kissed him. Kurt moved enthusiastically closer to Blaine to deepen their kiss, but Blaine pulled away. "My arm's getting kind of tired from lying like this," he whispered. Kurt laughed, and lay down on his side to face Blaine, who followed suit and snuggled beneath the covers. Lying face to face like this gave Kurt the perfect opportunity to kiss Blaine softly some more.

Blaine's kisses slowly became more insistent and Kurt, in some moment of intense confidence without any reason, rolled so that he was on top of his boyfriend. Blaine whimpered, Kurt only then realising the sharp contact his leg had had with Blaine's crotch.

"Sorry," Kurt tried to say, but his mouth was otherwise occupied, Blaine's tongue threatening to push even further inside as though it were possible.

"Don't be," Blaine said. He carefully realigned their bodies, and with an experimental roll of his hips Kurt had Blaine moaning, though he was doing his best to keep him quiet with his mouth. "We can stop, if you want to," Blaine said, Kurt taking their split as his opportunity to place kisses beneath Blaine's jaw, "Kurt, you- you want to do this? I can't enjoy it if you're not." Kurt smirked. He could feel how much Blaine was enjoying it, since his cock was right there against his, only a few thin layers separating them from a step too big for the both of them.

"You certainly seem to be enjoying it."

"I- yeah. Uh, you?" Kurt replied by rolling his hips again, catching Blaine off guard and having him release another gorgeous noise. "This isn't going to last very long," Blaine whispered, causing Kurt to laugh. His boyfriend followed in his laughter shortly after, and it may well have been the cutest noise he had ever heard.

"May as well keep going then, huh?" Kurt suggested, and Blaine nodded eagerly. They kissed one another as much as they could handle as they rocked against one another, until finally they had both come, neither one having removed their pants or used their hands at all. It wasn't as though it was Kurt's first orgasm, he was a teenage boy after all- but it was his first that he had shared with anyone.

"I'm sleepy now," Blaine admitted, Kurt rolling off him and Blaine immediately snuggling into his side.

"Mm, me too," Kurt agreed, letting his eyes droop shut, not even caring about the uncomfortable sticky feeling in his pants. He was far too happy too even really notice, deciding to deal with it later and enjoy the bliss with his boyfriend for as long as he could manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A couple of things! Firstly, I can't confirm whether or not anyone was performing Company in the time frame that this chapter takes place in. Just remember that it's a work of fiction.
> 
> Secondly, I in no way endorse kidnapping your friends.
> 
> Thirdly, I feel awful for how long this chapter took! Hopefully from here on I'll be on a mostly regular posting schedule and keep them coming once a week, but maybe I shouldn't quite promise that. I take gentle prompting (don't bully me too much!) on my tumblr (klainebowsandtimelords), and if you like you can let me know that I'm horrible for making you wait so long, I'll take any thoughts you wish to share with me :)


	3. Thinking Ahead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: more light smut of the handjob variety.

Kurt woke up to find a sleeping Blaine still wrapped firmly around him, his arm draped across his waist. He ran his fingers through Blaine's hair, loving the feeling of the soft curls that his boyfriend did his best to hide. He slowly began to wake up, shifting closer to Kurt as he opened his eyes.

"Good morning," Blaine said softly, leaning up to kiss Kurt. He was given one short kiss, all that Kurt could deal with before they had brushed their teeth.

"Morning." Kurt thought he could get used to waking up with his boyfriend far too easily to say it aloud.

"Last night was… good."

"Yeah, good," he affirmed, neither of the boys exactly sure how to address it. It had been something of a big step for the both of them, and there was tangible new kind of trust between them.

"Was that a one off thing or are we going to keep doing that?"

"I think we could keep going," Kurt said. Blaine laughed affectionately.

"Whatever you like. How do you feel about going… further?" Blaine asked. They had only really mentioned it in passing, but here there were no interruptions and no eavesdropping friends. It was about the perfect location for exploring with one another, and there was no telling when they would get that opportunity again.

"I still don't really feel like I know what I'm doing."

"We'll learn together."

"It's like… I know clinically what happens. I know what goes where and that lube and condoms are important. But I still have no idea about anything else, really. There's no handbook on how to give blowjobs or anything," Kurt said. Blaine opened his mouth to say something, but Kurt continued. "Before you say it, I've tried watching… _those_ movies, but I can't do it. There's nothing even remotely arousing to me about overly muscled men having their "first" gay experience for money. I just get depressed because surely no one really makes those noises."

"Have you tried reading about it instead?" Blaine suggested, and Kurt was just glad that he wasn't pushing the porn subject any further.

"Like in those books that Carole reads?"

"I don't know how useful those would be when it comes to gay sex. More like… fanfiction?"

"Seriously?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded. "Oh. I wouldn't know where to start."

"I'll help you." Blaine found his laptop and got connected to the WiFi far too quickly for Kurt's liking, leaving his arms too fast. He couldn't help but find it endearing how excited Blaine was to find the kinds of things that he was meant to read. "Give me a pairing," Blaine said.

"Any pairing?"

"Yeah. You watch _Sing,_ right? Or like, _Twilight_. Anything."

"There aren't any gay couples in _Twilight_ ," Kurt pointed out. This was getting more complicated than listing any pairing, if he could list pairings of non-existent people.

"That's irrelevant. Do you want to read about Jacob and Edward having sex, Kurt?" Blaine asked, with far too straight a face for Kurt to handle. He had to laugh then.

"I'd never really thought about it."

"You can probably find Bella/Edward stuff where they're both guys," Blaine said, typing a bunch of shorthand terms that meant nothing to Kurt into a search bar. Blaine opened a new tab, leaving the page of results for Kurt to look through later.

"I'm Team Jacob," Kurt said. Blaine typed in something more, and soon Kurt had listings for Bella/Edward and Jacob/Bella stories (he still had no idea what cisboy!Bella meant, nor how Blaine had known that was what to look for), as well as a list of Jacob/Edward stories. Blaine gave him a quick lesson in navigating the pages, and then attached links to all three to an email so Kurt could find them easily again later. "And you actually read this sort of thing?"

"Yeah, I do," Blaine admitted, seemingly past the point of embarrassment, "Not for _Twilight_ , but I think the effect is the same."

"…Is that one a BDSM story?" Kurt asked. Blaine glanced over the description.

"Yeah, it is. There's a lot of that sort of thing around."

"Oh."

"So now we've covered the mechanics and the stylistic side of this all, do you want to talk about the emotional side?" Blaine asked, gently taking Kurt's hand and pulling them both back down to a lying position, with Kurt more or less on top of his boyfriend until he adjusts and lies on his side next to him.

"I think you want to," Kurt supplied, and he was plenty willing to listen.

"Call me old fashioned, but I want our first time to mean something."

"And won't it?" Kurt said, "Because last time I checked we were very much in love." Blaine laughed softly.

"Of course, Kurt. But I'm the tiniest bit worried that will all our… urges, it's just going to stop being what I want to be."

"Maybe there's some middle ground?" Kurt suggested, "we can do some stuff, but not, you know, _the_ stuff, and that would take care of the 'urges' and we'd have all the romance we like when we take that last step."

"You mean butt stuff?" Blaine grinned. Kurt laughed and whacked him lightly.

" _Yes_. You absolute idiot."

"But I'm your idiot."

"That you are, honey."

* * *

The second night at Nate's house Blaine and Kurt did their best to block out the consistent noise of the headboard on the bed next door banging repeatedly against their wall. It turned out that Blaine had been completely right about the sexual side of Jeff and Nick's relationship, and it didn't seem like they were shy about it.

"You know how people think that the noises people make while they're having sex are a turn on?" Kurt thought aloud. Blaine rolled onto his side to look at him with a puzzled expression. "I think it only applies if you're participating."

"I think you're right," Blaine agreed, "they were so happy to be providing us with a place to be exploring our sexuality or whatever it was and then they do this so we end up lying here blankly and really not into it at all at the slightest." Kurt didn't even really notice the overemphasis on his words. He shuffled closer and pulled Blaine's arms around him, pressing his back into Blaine's warm chest. It wasn't even close to cold outside but he was more than happy to have the warmth from Blaine, always preferable to the humidity. After cuddling for a minute or two, both desperately hoping that Nick and Jeff would finish soon- and gosh, they had good stamina- Kurt was still not even close to being sleepy. He wanted to teasingly press his ass against Blaine's crotch, but he moved away almost immediately to accommodate the movement.

"Blaine?" Kurt said. His boyfriend hummed against Kurt's neck in response. "You're hard right now, aren't you?" Blaine wriggled further away from him again.

"Sorry," he whispered, "there's just a lot happening in my brain right now." Kurt supposed he could understand where Blaine was coming from; between the knowledge that they had been invited to stay so that they had the opportunity to sleep together, that their friends were having sex just a wall away, and having an attractive boyfriend lying in such close proximity, there were some messages that the conscious mind didn't have a lot of say in.

Kurt hesitated for a moment. "I could take care of that for you," he said. He knew they had talked about everything just that morning, but maybe this was still too much too soon. He couldn't know how Blaine felt until he was willing to talk about it again either.

"You don't have to do that," Blaine said, much too quickly.

"What if I want to? Do you not want me to?"

"I… I really want you to."

"Then let me?" Kurt said softly, moving away from Blaine enough to turn over and trail his hands down his boyfriend's chest, resting his hands at his hips. "I won't do anything you aren't ready for, B." Blaine nodded, taking Kurt's hand and nudging it towards his cock.

Kurt cupped him through his pants first. Though he was well accustomed to jerking off and the shape and feel of it all, touching another man's cock was entirely different to touching his own. With all this new found confidence, he was glad to have an intermediate step between what they had been doing and where they were going.

He slid his hand under the waistband of Blaine's pants, delighting in the way Blaine's breath hitched at the brush of his fingertips. As Kurt closed his hand around the shaft Blaine wriggled his pants down further, allowing his erection to spring free. Kurt hazarded a glance down at his hand, anticipating the shift that would come when he made everything real, that he was taking this step with Blaine.

There was something comforting, Kurt thought, that as he was stroking his boyfriend's length he could safely know that the only person who got to see and do anything like this was Blaine himself. The modesty in the Anderson household ensured that not even his parents would have accidentally walked in on him at any time, entirely different from the numerous occasions Burt had walked into the bathroom while Kurt was in the shower to grab a comb or something, muttering that it was nothing he hadn't seen before.

Blaine pressed kisses over Kurt's face, wherever it was that he could reach. Kurt met him to exchange a few slow, sloppy kisses, never once faltering in his movement of his hand over his boyfriend, rubbing against Blaine's leg to keep himself stimulated at the same time, nothing too different than he had been doing before. Blaine's hips stuttered up, pushing to meet Kurt's down stroke as he came over Kurt's hand.

An odd silence hung in the air as Blaine kissed him softly, before grabbing some tissues from the nightstand and passing them to Kurt to clean up. "Thanks," Kurt said, wiping his hand off.

"No, thank you," Blaine replied, "do you want me, to, uh..?" he gestured down at Kurt's body, obviously looking to return the favour.

"Actually, I'm good," Kurt admitted. He hadn't expected to find that giving Blaine a handjob would do so much for him, certainly not to the point that all it had taken was a few thrusts against Blaine's thigh for him to reach orgasm.

The pounding against the wall seemed to have stopped for good, and Blaine pulled the covers back up around them as Kurt rested his arm over Blaine's waist, nuzzling beneath his jaw. They shared a few sated goodnight kisses before they found that sleep met them easily.

* * *

The next morning Kurt was grateful to have woken up to the promise of pancakes for brunch, rather than at two in the morning the way he was the last time they were tripping between Lima and Chicago. In the dining room Jeff and Nick were holding hands across the table, an easy affection between them that Kurt had never quite witnessed for himself, used to seeing them at much more physically intimate moments. Blaine was humming as he made himself a second stack and poured syrup over it, so obnoxiously a morning person that it was almost painful. Kurt helped himself to some pancakes and sat down at the table, savouring the moment with the group of friends.

"So it sounds like you two had fun last night," Kurt said, a smile playing at his lips. Nick was the first to react, looking accusingly between Blaine and Kurt. Jeff smiled down at his pancakes happily.

"We did," Jeff replied, much to Nick's further embarrassment. Jeff was so open about everything that Kurt hadn't expected any other result.

"And what did you two get up to?" Nick quipped, though it was a beat too late and he fumbled over his words slightly, clearly trying to divert attention and it didn't quite play off as coolly as he would have liked it to.

"You know, stuff," Kurt said with an innocent shrug, "when we weren't being kept awake by you two."

"Blaine made his masturbation noises!" Nick said, far too quickly.

"Nick!" Blaine exclaimed.

"How do you know what his masturbation noises sound like?" Jeff asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Doesn't matter," Nick said. Jeff's cousin Nate came into the kitchen at that point, looking suspiciously between the four boys, all now looking nonchalantly down at their plates.

"What did I miss?" Nate asked, but none of the boys were willing to answer, all mumbling nonsense at their plates. Nate didn't seem to mind at all.

He was a lot more pleasant when they piled everything back into the car and started on their way, though they had a few more stops on the way back since everyone was awake. They let Jeff play whatever songs he liked, and none of them thought to even argue. The trip had been exhausting, and, even after what had seemed like a shaky start, Kurt found that by the time he was being dropped back at home in Lima, he was happy to have gone.

* * *

The day after the Chicago trip, Erica and Luke summoned a Dreamweaver planning meeting at their house, ready to start the new year of LARPing shortly before school was due to start. They had a whole host of standard topics to get through, from recapping the completed plot strands to figuring out the new ones, making note of relationship changes and the ones to come, and for the first time, figuring in the second town.

"They're self-sufficient," Erica began explaining, "their plots aren't going to be designed to intertwine with ours. But then again, we'll have a few combined sessions and you'll be able to mix and match, though the goal is to only have a few big plots that span both groups that can be put aside when we're not all together."

"And your cousins are running it?" Marley clarified.

"Yeah, Sebastian and Rory. Well, mostly Rory, but Sebastian would like to think that he's helping. He's just bossy."

"And Rory isn't?" Luke scoffed. As they got to the character relationships part of the meeting, Erica wrote every character's name up on the whiteboard, drawing an arrow between White Wings and JetCat and writing _sexual tension_ alongside it.

"You can all talk to one another for this, but by the end of the next, say, twenty minutes, I want to have an arrow from each character to every other. No two characters should be left without any relationship," Erica said. As the group began to mix around and chat about their characters, Erica quickly cornered Blaine and Kurt. "You two can do whatever you want," she told them, "but I have a strong recommendation that you should be getting engaged."

"You think they should get married?" Kurt asked. The thought had never really occurred to him, not while he and Blaine were dating one another too. They were so far from making that lifetime commitment that he hadn't ever stopped to consider how it would be for Darcy. He tried not to point out that Erica had said _you_ rather than _they_.

"There are superheroes and you're questioning the gay rights?"

"I wasn't questioning the- never mind. What do you think?" Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand softly.

"I think that we should do it," Blaine agreed. He stepped up to the board and drew the line between them, annotating it as _to-be-betrothed_ , predictably causing some uproar among the group. It humoured Kurt to find that they received a few compliments about the plot being a good idea, as well as for their impending engagement. The blurring lines between them and their characters seemed to be getting fuzzier by the way the others talked to them, though they were fairly certain themselves that they wouldn't actually be taking that step for years yet. They were barely scraping the surface of their new sexual confidence, they didn't need any more levels to climb.

As the group reconvened, settling down and the gossiping subsiding, Marley raised her hand. Erica, taking a moment to register that was her signalling for invitation to speak, called on her. "When is our first combined LARP happening?" she asked, receiving a few mumbles of agreement.

"We thought after school started up, so you'll all have a chance to get back into the swing of things with just us, and be sorted with your schoolwork," she gestured to Blaine, "or settled into a new school even, before we mess with everything."

"I'm confused, who are Sebastian and Rory?" Nick piped up. Erica sighed, obviously getting annoyed with the repetition of her answers.

"They're my cousins, Sebastian is Rory's brother, and Sebastian will be attending Dalton in your year. Any more questions?" There was no reply, and Erica sighed again, those this time contently rather than with frustration. She let the silence linger for another moment, testing the patience of the group for a moment. "Good. So, moving on…"

Blaine dropped Kurt off at home. They found that with his summer curfew they had managed to be early, and they parked down the road rather than right outside Kurt's house. Blaine captured Kurt's lips in a heated kiss, and they soon climbed into the backseat to have slightly more room, exchanging lazy kisses and excited handjobs before Kurt had to go.

"Wasn't Blaine going to walk you to the door?" Burt asked as he heard Kurt come in. He felt his cheeks reddening and willed them not to as best as he could.

"We said goodnight in the car," he replied, trying to shrug it off.

"He's doing okay though?"

"Oh yeah. Our roleplay characters are getting engaged," he said casually. Burt only looked startled for a moment.

"Oh, uh, that's great, kiddo?" Burt replied, phrasing it as a question in non-commitment. Kurt nodded supportively. "I'm glad you two are happy. How long have you been together now?"

"I don't know, like, seven months?" It wasn't hard to keep track of exactly how long it had been, when the date they were choosing to count as their anniversary was New Year's Day. He could easily have given it as a figure with months and days, and he was sure Burt knew that as well as he did.

"That's a lot, for most high school relationships these days."

"It is, but we don't want to be most high school couples."

"Good for you. I like him, you know," Burt assured. Kurt loved how his dad wanted to say that to him, as though he was being kept in the loop about their relationship.

"I know. Finn and I both know that he's your favourite son."

"You know I love all of you. He's sort of adorable though." Kurt tried not to laugh, but he wasn't surprised to hear that was what Burt thought of his boyfriend. Blaine _was_ adorable.

"I know exactly what you mean." Kurt's phone buzzed, and he unlocked it to find a text from Blaine.

**Blaine A.** _did you make it inside okay? You didn't turn off the porch light :)_

Kurt laughed endearingly, reading it aloud to his dad in response to the puzzled look that he received. Burt smiled and walked over to the door, opening it and popping his head out to wave at Blaine, who was sitting in his car outside their house still. He turned off the light as he closed the door.

**Kurt H.** _Yes, B. Thank you for the ride home xx_

"Warm milk, do you think?" Burt suggested, and Kurt happily followed him through to the kitchen to share the simple routine comfort with his dad.

**Blaine A.** _Any time, love. See you tomorrow?_

**Kurt H.** _Absolutely. Text me sometime after eleven? Xoxo_

**Blaine A.** _Sure. Say goodnight to your dad for me. Love you xxx_

"Blaine says goodnight," Kurt told his dad, already tapping out the response he anticipated Burt dictating to him as he pottered around the kitchen, making them both the promised milk as Kurt sat at the table.

"Well, say goodnight back. And he had better not be driving, but if he's still sitting outside then he should say so now so we can make enough milk for him."

**Kurt H.** _You aren't driving, are you? He says goodnight too. Love you too xxxx_

With no response for a few minutes, Kurt informed Burt that he probably was driving after all, but he wasn't texting and driving or anything. As Burt slid a mug across the table to him, his phone buzzed again.

**Blaine A.** _I was driving, thank you very much, but no, none of my texts were sent en route. We already said our I love yous, how are we meant to end this now?_

**Kurt H.** _Still love you. Xx_

**Blaine A.** _Still loving you too. B) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_


	4. Old Faces

The summer ended, much to the disappointment of every high school student in Lima. For Kurt, the first day of school marked the beginning of his senior year; he was going to be class president, the lead in the musical, and get into the college of his dreams, all alongside his boyfriend and with the support of his best friends in the glee club, as well as the paradise that the unscathed by classmates LARP was.

**Kurt H.** _Good morning :) we'll pick you up in about twenty minutes. Ready for your first day back at public school? Xx_

**Blaine A.** _Morning, sweetheart. I'm as ready as I'll ever be- you'll hold my hand, right? B) xoxo_

**Kurt H.** _Of course. You ARE willing to actually be my boyfriend within school grounds, right?_

**Blaine A.** _Duh. There's no way I'm taking a step back now. Love you xxx_

Kurt grinned at his phone, setting down as he ate his breakfast. He and Finn would be picking up Rachel and Blaine on their way into school, since they lived so close to one another. After they were both ready to go, they drove to Rachel's house, and she practically skipped out to meet them. She opened the door and slid to the middle of the back seat, so she poke her head into the front seat, kissing Finn in greeting.

"Kurt!" she said happily, "good morning, bestie!" she attempted to hug him, before settling on an awkward one armed reach to his shoulder. Since Nationals they had been best friends, according to Rachel, and Kurt was just glad that their personalities had stopped clashing quite so badly. He would take Rachel as a friend over a rival any day, though he knew where his real best friends lay- Blaine was so much more than just his boyfriend.

They drove to Blaine's house, which was only down the road from Rachel's, and Kurt hopped out of the car, giving Rachel permission to move into the front seat. He half-jogged up to the house, ringing the doorbell and waiting patiently. He heard some movement from behind the door, and soon it opened to reveal Blaine with a happy twinkle in his eye. "Hi," Blaine said, rearranging the strap of his bag on his shoulder.

"Hey. Nervous?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded, and reached out his hand for Kurt to take. They swung their hands gently between them as they walked back out to the car and climbed into the backseat. Blaine rested his hand on Kurt's face to gently guide their lips together, neither sure when the next kiss would really be.

"This year is going to be so good!" Rachel said, "I have an amazing boyfriend, and not one, but _two_ gay best friends! It's going to be the best!" Blaine rolled his eyes, and Kurt nodded in agreement. Being Rachel Berry's token gays wasn't exactly in either of their plans, but they could let her have the moment.

Kurt walked Blaine to all of his classes that day, regardless of the fact he had been paired up with another buddy. His buddy seemed relieved to not be needed, anyway, and Kurt couldn't care less whether or not he was slightly late for his classes. He sat with the glee club kids at lunchtime, and Kurt was happy that for the most part they were happy to let him sit there. He didn't ignore the fact that Finn had intentionally sat at the other end of the table.

"The rumour mill is _loving_ your transfer," Santana said, as she set her tray down next to them.

"Really? Why?" Blaine asked. Kurt smiled at him in his best effort of support, not ignoring how Blaine straightened his bowtie self-consciously.

"Because everyone thought that Kurt had made you up or something. It's one thing to be gay in theory and another in practice, you know?" Though he didn't know, he nodded, and Blaine did too.

The day went ahead as expected- Kurt walked Blaine from class to class, they kissed exactly once all day, at Blaine's locker just before the end of lunch and with many onlookers, and when the day finally ended Kurt and Blaine met up with Marley and took the car (Finn walked home with Rachel) to Leo's house, where the LARP was being hosted that day.

Blaine disappeared to change into his Nightbird spandex as Kurt made himself at home in the living room, sitting down beside Erica. She turned to him, finishing her sentence to Luke. "How did Blaine's day go?" she asked.

"Good," Kurt answered, "we all avoided being slushied and we managed to kiss without any comment."

"He's getting changed?"

"Yeah."

"So, we think that we'll join with the Soulsearcher guys on Friday night. Can you make it?"

"I don't have any other plans," Kurt said. He was looking forward to seeing how it would play out with the other group there. He knew ultimately there wasn't a whole lot to change, other than the addition of Sebastian and Rory, only one of whom he had met before. As much as he hated not knowing, he was okay with them doing their own thing, and he was willing to break the exclusion of the group for the newcomers whether or not one of them had hit on his boyfriend.

The LARP started, and Blaine was quick to lead him to an unoccupied corner of the room. He wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist, resting his head on his shoulder. Something was wrong, Kurt could tell that much- and it was wrong enough to be infiltrating Blaine's safe space.

"Are you okay, honey?" Kurt asked, kissing the top of Blaine's head.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," Blaine replied, "it was a long day." Kurt knew that it wasn't really Nightbird talking at all. For a mysterious nocturnal avenger, he sure was transparent.

"I get it. Did you hear about the superheroes that have popped up in Soulsearcher?" he asked, trying to steer their topic back onto a Darcy and Nightbird conversation. That was what was easy for Blaine, he knew. The whole reason they did what they did was to escape those long days.

"The next town over? Yeah, I'd heard. Their big heroes have been talking with White Wings about how we can work together. Seems like we might be needed for back up over there. Think there's a story or two in it for you?"

"The _Dreamweaver Chronicle_ always needs new stories. That's sort of how newspapers work," Kurt teased, "don't they teach you these things at superhero school? Have you ever even _read_ the Chronicle?"

"Please, my very attractive boyfriend has his name in there every day, often with a dashing picture. I practically hoard them." Blaine grinned, making Kurt smile back just as big. Something was working, and that was all he really needed to be assured that Blaine would be okay.

"Not just to see pictures of yourself?" he said.

"Well, those are always nice too. I like the attention."

"From the public?"

"From you," Blaine said, leaning up to meet Kurt's lips, but Kurt pulled back slightly just to tease him. Blaine stayed close, but not quite close enough.

"You know you get that any time you want," he breathed, inching their mouths close together again.

"I do. Actually, that reminds me, Darcy…." Blaine pulled away completely, leaving Kurt completely without kisses. That was just unfair.

"What?"

"Nothing. Kiss me?" Blaine asked hopefully.

"Oh fine. Don't think that I _like_ this teasing." He kissed him, proving Blaine to be utterly spoilt. It really wasn't fair of him to just pull away like that and then expect kisses anyway. The things he did for Blaine Anderson.

* * *

Friday finally came, and Blaine practically collapsed into the passenger seat of Kurt's car after school. They had some time to kill before the LARP with Soulsearcher, and Blaine had decided that meant it was time for him to celebrate that he had survived a whole week at public school by cuddling with Kurt. Well, he had actually suggested that he should receive a sexual favour from his boyfriend as a reward, but Kurt had slapped him on the arm softly before he could finish his sentence.

"One whole week of public school," Kurt said, "congratulations." Blaine clipped in his seatbelt and grinned at Kurt.

"I'm really doing it. I didn't think I was ever going to feel safe without Dalton tight policies ever again… but we've kissed in the hallways every day and we haven't ended up in hospital yet."

"Drama queen." Kurt started the car, leaning across to kiss Blaine quickly before they left.

"Oh, look who is talking," Blaine teased, earning a fond eye roll from his boyfriend.

Out of some insane luck, they had managed to be at home all alone in Kurt's house. It made a nice change from how they usually found all their quiet time at Blaine's. They decide that they probably don't have enough time to even risk doing anything in Kurt's room, door open or not, and settle for making out on the couch instead until they hear the front door open sometime later as Burt arrived home. Blaine climbed off of Kurt and reached for the remote, flicking the TV on as they both straightened themselves out.

"Hello, Kurt, Blaine," Burt called, before he had even stepped into the living room, "see! I knew it was you two," he said, leaning against the doorway.

"How?" Kurt asked, confused as to what his dad was suggesting.

"I came into a quiet house until suddenly there were TV noises. Finn and Rachel don't bother to turn the TV on and keep going, if it were Carole then she would actually be watching it. It had to be you boys." Blaine cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You two have your thing tonight?"

"The LARP? Yeah, we do," Blaine answered.

"And you're staying for dinner?" Burt said, as though Blaine actually had a choice in the matter. There hadn't been many Fridays over the summer that Blaine had missed the family dinners, and compulsory attendance had somehow extended to him. Kurt's parents even sounded disappointed when Blaine couldn't make it, whereas they sounded quite the opposite when they knew Rachel wouldn't be in attendance.

"Yes sir."

"Great. Speaking of which, Kurt, would you mind setting the table?" He knew the signs well enough, and scurried out of the living room to give them time to talk. He was happy to be able to hear as much as he did, though.

"How has your week been?" he heard Burt ask. He could imagine the way that Blaine would be sitting up as straight as he could manage the way he almost always did in the presence of authority figures of any kind.

"Good, thanks," Blaine said. It was polite chit-chat, but Kurt knew that wasn't why he had been sent out of the room.

"And how is it being at a public school? I hope you don't mind that I know a little bit about your background," Burt said. Kurt had tried to get similar information out of Blaine all week. As nice as it was to know that he wasn't the only one who cared about his boyfriend's week and school history, he doubted he was going to get any more than he had- comments about how it might not have a zero bullying tolerance policy, but that it was a lot more accepting than his first school, and that being shot judgemental looks in the hallway when he kissed his boyfriend was better than barely holding hands with a boy and ending up in hospital.

"It's… okay. McKinley is nothing like Dalton, but let's just say that McKinley is where my heart is."

"I know, son. I've watched your twenty minute goodbyes on my porch enough times to know that." As much as he didn't like the thought of Burt watching their exchanges, really the most they ever said in those times was that they loved one another. It might be a lot for high schoolers, but Kurt's dad never seemed to shrug their statements off.

"I… I'm not brave for going to public school, Burt," Kurt didn't miss the use of his dad's first name, "but I can be brave. For him." With nothing left to set the table with, he made his way slowly back to the living room, pretending not to have heard every word they had said. He made sure to squeeze Blaine's hand extra tightly under the table at dinner anyway.

* * *

They got to Erica and Luke's house with plenty of time to spare before they were due to start. As it was almost a big event, having the Soulsearcher gang along to the session, everyone had gone all out. While most Fridays were much lower key sessions and didn't often involve costumes if they roleplayed at all, that night all the heroes were in their spandex and the civilians had on their best character identifiers.

Erica led them outside, to where the garden had been draped with fairy lights. They weren't the first ones to arrive, but they expected a few more to turn up still, too. There were only a couple of roleplayers there who he hadn't met before.

"So you two met Sebastian at the wedding, right?" Erica asked them, gesturing over to where he sat, fiddling with his phone and looking thoroughly uncomfortable. They both nodded in agreement, and Kurt took a small step closer to his boyfriend, enough that Blaine almost instinctively wrapped his arm around his waist. "We'd better introduce you two to Rory."

"Yeah, you've mentioned him a few times, but-" Kurt said.

"Rory!" Erica called gently, and a girl who had been talking to Marley looked over. It looked like Rory wasn't the boy that Kurt had thought she was at every mention of her before then. You would think someone would have used some pronouns to change the masculine view he had had of her. Erica beckoned her over and as she got closer it became evident that she wasn't quiet as unknown to them as he thought.

"Maxwell and Harry!" she greeted, "well, isn't this a plot twist!"

"Kira!" Blaine said enthusiastically, all but hugging her, "it's so good to see you. Small world, huh?"

"I never thought I would actually ever see either of you again. We didn't even talk out of character after you two died."

"Um, context?" Erica asked.

"We met at the single event LARP that happened right after I moved here."

"The one on prom night," Kurt supplied.

"Oh, you've already LARPed together? That's crazy. Well, anyway, this Kurt and Blaine. Guys, this is Rory, my cousin," Erica introduced. Sebastian strode over, as though it had suddenly occurred to him who had arrived. He slid up next to Blaine and stood close- much, much too close for Kurt's liking but just far enough away that Blaine didn't notice how close they had gotten.

"What do you want, Lorelai?" Sebastian said, "I'll have you know now that these two are gay, far more my league than yours." She scowled at him, folding her arms.

"Please, I knew they were together before you knew they existed," she defended.

"As if you aren't interested. I suppose Kurt is more your type though, what with his gender fluidity and all." Kurt's mouth fell open. He wasn't sure who it was that Sebastian was meant to be insulting anymore.

"Oh my gosh, you really don't grasp the concept of pansexuality, do you?"

"Can you two not fight for long enough for the Dreamweaver folks to get here?" Erica urged. Rory shrugged and walked away as it became obvious that it wouldn't be Sebastian who was leaving. Blaine, ever the polite gentleman, was happy to keep conversing with them, even as Erica left them to introduce Rory to some of the other LARPers. She stood behind Sebastian and mouthed _thank you_ to Kurt, who only moved over slightly to pull Blaine in towards him. He wasn't even listening to the conversation that Sebastian and Blaine were having, something about Dalton and teachers, focussed entirely more on how easily Blaine settled against his body, accommodating his arm around his waist without hesitation.

"I'm going to go and talk to Marley," Kurt said when there was a pause in the conversation, Blaine moving his arms from Kurt to let him step away.

"Okay." He leaned up slightly, the way he always did when he wanted Kurt to kiss him. Kurt met him with a soft peck, everything happening as though it was second nature to him. He barely processed what was going on as he did it, and again as Blaine said, "love you," when they broke apart.

"You too," Kurt said, squeezing his hand gently before walking away. He noticed how Blaine stepped further away from Sebastian without him there beside him and tried not to smile too much as he joined some of the others. It turned out none of them had missed that subtleties of their exchange either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: what with me being one of the worst writers ever and all that I've done little to no writing recently, though I'm sure you've noticed. This chapter is a little shorter than my usual target length but I figured for the most part you would prefer to have a short, accessible chapter than a long chapter sitting on my laptop for another week. This is quite possibly the longest gap I've ever had between chapters in my whole time as a fic writer, so do feel free to gently harass me into keeping going. Try me over on tumblr, where I'm klainebowsandtimelords.


	5. Finding Places

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: warning for some smut. It's there, it's queer, and it accelerates canon.

Lunch time with the glee club was more and more interesting every day. Rachel insisted that she and Finn sat with Kurt and Blaine, since they were her gay best friends, but every time they sat down Kurt noticed the slight shift in Blaine's posture as he grew uncomfortable with their presence. They were debating their favourite casts of Sweeney Todd, though the most Finn was contributing was his thoughts about the movie.

"The real trouble is, Rachel, that you're an OBC purist but also a Patti LuPone purist. Angela or Patti, Rachel? Who was the superior Mrs. Lovett?" Blaine asked. She rested her chin on her hand, concentrating deeply.

"I don't know. You win this time, Blaine Warbler."

"Angela has the whole 'what do we do about the I-talian?' thing. Not 'it' but 'ayt', you know?" Blaine said.

"Yeah, well, Helena Bonham Carter is in the movie, and she's good," Finn said. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Do you ever listen to other cast recordings, Finn?" Blaine asked, perfectly amicably, a genuine curiosity and happiness in his tone.

"Not all of us _like_ the Broadway stuff, Blaine, you don't have to be so judgemental," Finn said, completely shutting down what Blaine had said. Kurt glanced his boyfriend, who had put down his food to look confusedly across the table at the other couple.

"I didn't mean to suggest that-" Blaine started, his brow furrowed.

"Just shut up, alright?" Finn said. Kurt glared at his stepbrother, balanced his tray in one hand and taking Blaine's hand in the other, moving to the other end of the table. Rachel was obviously having words with him about the incident, but she seemed entirely more concerned about the fact that her musical conversation buddies had moved than she was about the way Finn had talked to Blaine.

"Why doesn't Finn like me?" Blaine said quietly, and Santana and Quinn were obviously pretending not to hear their conversation, something that Kurt was especially grateful for. He wasn't sure exactly how to answer, settling for an inconclusive shrug. "I think maybe I shouldn't have joined the New Directions."

"What? Why?" Kurt said, "You can't leave! You _love_ show choir."

"But has it ever really been about show choir? I love _you_."

"And I love you. You won't leave?"

"I won't leave, Kurt. I _do_ love glee club but I'm not sure it's everything I was hoping for when I transferred. Aren't you guys meant to have the whole accepting underdog thing going on? What happened to that? Why haven't I been accepted?" Blaine looked at him with his wide brown eyes, shining with the threat of unfallen tears.

"You _have_. Lord knows the only person who sings more songs than you is Rachel."

"It's not like Mister Schue wants me to sing that much, I just actually do the damn assignments. And we've only been at school for a few weeks. It's no secret he doesn't like me. Just as much as Finn doesn't." Blaine poked about at his food a bit more, breaking eye contact with Kurt. He was so obviously upset, and Kurt hated that he was such a major part of why Blaine was even back at a public school at all, let alone McKinley.

"He's just jealous because you look better in sweater vests than he does," Kurt said, "and Finn's jealous because Rachel adores you and it's no secret. She always has, just now she's a bit better at accepting that you're gay. And taken." Blaine finally cracked a small smile, reaching across for Kurt's hand. He took it happily, gently running his thumb across the back of his boyfriend's hand, the tiniest gesture of support.

After lunch they walked to Kurt's locker first, planning to stop off by Blaine's before walking as far as they could together before they had to go in different directions. "Do you think my outfit is okay?" Blaine asked insecurely, pulling his vest down a little bit.

"You look as wonderful as always, B. Kiss me?" Blaine kissed him happily, something that Kurt had honestly only asked for to help piece together the puzzle of Blaine's blues. He was insecure about so many things, seemed to live in fear that he would be bullied again even though he had only moved at the insistence he wasn't scared of public schools anymore. He was concerned about what he said, how he dressed, but never about whether or not he should be kissing Kurt in public. He took Blaine's hand and they began to walk down the hallway with one another. "Have you noticed that you're just as gay as I am but you have never once been called a fag by anyone here?" Kurt asked, "I wouldn't wish it on anyone and I'm not mad at you for it, but I think maybe it was just me."

"I hadn't really thought about it. I'm just glad to be flying under the radar," Blaine said.

"You really think that's what's going on? You sing in the hallways and you think people don't know who you are?" Blaine shrugged.

"Do you want to skip class?" Blaine asked, "Not that it's something I do regularly, or at all, even, but I think we could both use some time out." Kurt agreed, and the pair headed outside to the quietest grassy patch they could find- at the far end of the football field. It was out of view, so long as nobody was using the field, and today they had it completely to themselves. The only people who would have seen them walking over was whoever felt like lurking behind the bleachers, and those people were skipping just as much as they were. They were fairly trustworthy when it came to whether or not they would get trouble for being told on.

They lay down, holding hands and taking an earphone each, Kurt shuffling his playlist of songs he had made just for occasions like this. He took a deep breath as the songs began to play, beginning on I Fight Dragons' _Fight For You_. Blaine smiled, something Kurt was always happy to see, now more so than ever. "This playlist is all the songs that are _our_ songs," he explained, "our duets. Everything you've ever sung to me. The karaoke songs."

"Most couples usually just pick one song, Kurt," Blaine said, but he was smiling.

"And since when have we ever been most couples?"

Blaine rolled over, cuddling into Kurt's side. He instinctively moved his arm to accommodate his boyfriend, getting comfy himself. They stayed that way for a while, silent to the world around them, the only noise coming from the iPod, encasing them in a world of their own.

"You know why this is different for me, right?" Blaine asked. "At Dalton my whole coping mechanism was to fit into the cookie cutter prep school boy persona. It was the security I needed after… everything. So coming here and having all this freedom is a bit much at once sometimes." Kurt just nodded, even if he wasn't sure entirely what it was that Blaine was getting at.

* * *

The weeks flew by. Blaine finally seemed to have found his footing and regained the sparkle that Kurt had always loved in him, perhaps a bit forced but close enough to the real deal. It shone brightest when he was performing, and it dulled as he let himself get critical, taking the critiques from the group too harshly. Kurt knew how he operated though, read the signs and figured out exactly when to take action to keep him grounded.

After Blaine landed the role of Tony in the musical, he had something to put a lot of his drive into that was a lot more positive than worrying about whether or not Finn liked him or whether Mr Schue really was just jealous of him for his sweater vests. Even if Kurt was still a bit caught up over how he needed the role, he could see the influence it was having on Blaine; perhaps his boyfriend needed it even more than he did.

Their sex life progressed slowly but steadily, venturing from exploring with their hands to exploring with their mouths, and Kurt soon discovered that there was something distinctly enjoyable about being on the giving side of the blowjob and not just the receiving side. For all he enjoyed it, Blaine was crazily enthusiastic, as he was with most things in his life. Almost every spare moment they had without anyone around to interrupt them was spent entangled in one of their bedrooms, and once even in a strategically positioned spot just out of direct view from the enforced open door of Kurt's room, though they cut it a little too close and never dared repeat it.

One afternoon Rachel scheduled for Blaine and her to rehearse at her house, running over the songs more times than Kurt could really see were necessary. For whatever reason, he had been invited along too, finding himself sitting next to the piano with the pair playing the young lovers.

"I'm not really sure why I'm here," Kurt admitted, checking twitter on his phone and looking up to the equally frowning Blaine and Rachel. They were scarily alike in those moments, and Kurt sometimes wondered if there was a connection that they had missed.

"Because I love you!" They said, in almost perfect sync. Blaine raised his eyebrows at Rachel, who took it as a cue to elaborate.

"You know that when we live in New York in our cosy little apartment together that we'll do this sort of thing all the time! I'm going to need my best gay-" she paused, glancing at Blaine, " _two_ best gays alongside me and you may as well get the practice in now."

"Plus, it gives me something nice to look at," Blaine said, somewhere between teasing and seriously flirtatious.

"Just get married already," Rachel said, turning the pages on the music. "I was thinking we should practice _One Hand, One Heart_ again," she said, and waited for Blaine to position himself accordingly.

"Do you think we could call it a day after that? I promise I'll practice _Something's Coming_ at home, and you could practice _I Feel Pretty_?" He suggested, looking over to Kurt with what he could only call bedroom eyes. Rachel agreed and they practiced the song, and it didn't take long for Blaine to grab Kurt and all but yank him out of the house and, due to it being just around the corner from Blaine's house, they practically ran down the road to the Andersons'. They were barely two steps inside Blaine's house when he pulled Kurt in closer to kiss him properly, albeit sloppily.

"Eager, are we?" Kurt teased, when they broke apart for long enough for him to get any words out. They struggled their way to Blaine's bedroom, where the door was promptly closed and locked behind them. Blaine's parents weren't due to be home for a long while yet, and they were both fully aware of the fact; they both knew how well they would make use of the time.

Blaine began undoing his own buttons, and Kurt was quick to replace his hands with his own. He placed a soft kiss to his neck, saying, "This is my job." Blaine didn't take long to mirror his movements and begin working on Kurt's layers. When they had undressed one another down to their underwear, they made their way over to the bed, lazily exchanging kisses.

"Kurt," Blaine said, as Kurt focussed on marking Blaine's collarbone, "I want… I want you _in_ me." Kurt kissed his way up to Blaine's mouth again, lingering for a few moments before breaking away enough to talk.

"I thought we wanted this to be special and romantic?" Kurt asked, full of concern that Blaine might regret the choice for it being in the heat of the moment.

"It will be special. Because it's you and me, and we love one another. Do you want me to light some candles, or put on some music, or-" Kurt cut him off with another kiss.

"We don't need to do anything else. It's you and me." Blaine smiled into every kiss, as he began getting more restless, trying to push Kurt's underwear down. Kurt loved that he was so eager. Kurt loved _him._

They had to pause for a moment for Blaine to displace enough of the things in his drawers to find the well buried condoms and lube. Kurt wondered how long he had been thinking about this; but that said, as soon as things had started progressing between them he had gone out and bought his own supplies, just in case (he had driven all the way to Columbus to do it, not that he would ever admit to that).

Kurt opened the packet and was quietly grateful when Blaine took the condom from him and rolled it onto his cock, before getting generous with how much lube he was spreading on Kurt. He couldn't help but notice that the bottle wasn't full.

"There," Blaine said, awkwardly wiping his hand on the sheet, "can you prep me?" Kurt nodded, picking up the bottle and squirting some on his fingers.

"I've never really done this," he admitted, "You'll need to help me out here." Blaine was ever supportive and coached him through the process, starting with one finger and then eventually letting a second join, taking Blaine's lead at every moment. When he insisted that he was ready, Kurt took a deep breath and finally slid his cock inside Blaine. "Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly, and Blaine nodded.

"I'm good. You can start moving." Kurt was gentle, terrified of hurting his boyfriend. This was a big step, and he was already so worried it was going to go completely wrong that he'd hate to be proven right. But Blaine made the most gorgeous noises, closing his eyes contently and keeping his hands on Kurt at all times, and he just couldn't believe that he had ever been worried. Being so close, so intimate with Blaine, it was like second nature. He could just about convince himself that this is what he was made for.

It was over quicker than either would have probably found ideal, but they had plenty of time to practise, to keep doing the same thing over and over again. After a clean-up, they curled themselves around one another again, neither bothering to find their clothes just yet. The feeling of skin on skin was intimate enough that it could have matched to what they were just doing. After a few minutes in comfortable silence, just enjoying lying next to each other, Kurt realised that Blaine had been crying. "Hey," he said, "what's the matter?" it served him right for Blaine to be regretting it. Any time Kurt wanted anything it was taken away from him, after all. He should have expected it.

"Nothing," Blaine assured, "I'm perfect. Just… overwhelmed. I'm feeling…. A lot right now." Kurt understood completely, drawing Blaine in for a delicate kiss. He could feel the boy smiling beneath his lips, and that was enough to remind him that everything was as good as Blaine claimed.

"I love you, B," Kurt said.

"I love you too. So much."

* * *

"How did you all find the joined session with Soulsearcher?" Erica asked as they stood in the park, waiting for the session to commence. They were still waiting on most of their players, but the members present all mumbled affirmations that they enjoyed it.

"I'm happy there are more rainbow people joining us," Hadley said, the only person to offer anything specific, and received a variety of puzzled looks from the group.

"Care to elaborate?" Kurt prompted. Hadley rolled her eyes, as though Kurt was stupid for not knowing exactly what it was that she meant. She sighed and began her explanation.

"You're a rainbow person, because you're gay. So is Blaine, and Leo and Ethan. _I'm_ not a rainbow person, I'm just an ally. And then we have whatever Nick and Jeff are-"

"I know what you are," Nick interrupted, directing it at Jeff.

"Say it," Jeff replied on cue.

"Bisexual." They grinned at one another before they shared a high five, obviously very content with their lame movie reference, while Hadley gave them one of her token glares.

"Fine, Nick and Jeff are bisexual-"

"No, Jeff's bisexual," Nick interrupted again. He had an obvious mischievous twinkle in his eye, knowing that it was pushing Hadley's buttons.

"And what are _you_?" Hadley said, obviously getting more impatient that she couldn't finish her lesson on rainbow people in peace, "because you aren't _straight._ "

"I don't know," Nick said. Hadley didn't look amused. "I just like him."

"Great," she deadpanned.

"Wait, so why are we rainbow people?" Blaine asked. Being the only person to speak up by no measure made him the only person to be wondering the same thing. Hadley's logic seemed to be fatally flawed, and mostly just offensive.

"Gay people love rainbows." Leo, Ethan, Blaine, and Kurt all looked between themselves questioningly, Ethan eventually shrugging.

"Nope, just Leo," he spoke on behalf of the others who nodded, Leo with the most enthusiasm.

"And Blaine's a walking rainbow," Kurt added.

"But Nick and Jeff are rainbow people too?" Leo said hopefully, and Hadley sighed emphatically.

"Yes, but they're like, faded rainbows." Kurt narrowed his eyes at the girl, but she wasn't interested in continuing the conversation. She had gotten very good at ignoring Kurt, and he liked to think that she was just threatened by him. After all, he was dating the boy that she had had a crush on for some time before Kurt had even met him. It didn't make Hadley's explanation any less problematic.

"Are we not going to mention that Unique is LGBTQ plus either?" Jeff asked Nick quietly as the group broke itself up for smaller conversations. His boyfriend shrugged.

"I bet she wouldn't be allowed to be a proper rainbow. Maybe a rainbow that's only red and orange?"

Erica shuffled over to the small huddle. With her voice lowered she said, "Does anyone else think that it's really offensive that only gay people are full rainbows?"

"Well, we can choose to be straight," Nick stated with an eye roll.

"You're not less queer for liking girls. I love the girl, but sometimes I just want to…" Erica clenched and unclenched her fist at her side.

"Slap her?" Kurt supplied. Erica shrugged.

"Let's go with that."

"Claims to be ally. Offends a large portion of the LGBTQ community by suggesting that they aren't as important as the gold stars," Jeff said with some hand gestures. "It doesn't add up."

"Maybe we should just… segue into the session now," Erica suggested, "before anyone actually slaps her." She was met with a few noises of agreement and simply slid away from the group, ready to begin the round.

"She's just uneducated," Nick mumbled to himself, grabbing Leo and pulling him away from Ethan to start whatever it is they were doing. Kurt offered his hand to Blaine who took it, and the pair set off on their regular promenade around the park.

"I know you're the news reporter," Blaine started, "but did you hear about the phenomenon in Soulsearcher? They have the most dazzling rainbows, practically all they have to pull tourists, and no one knows why they're so strong there. I have a theory though…"

"You do, do you?" Kurt asked, finding that Darcy fit him so naturally.

"I think it's nothing less than a superpower," Blaine explained. Kurt grinned at him.

"Oh really? You mean they have _gay superheroes_ in Soulsearcher?" he teased. His boyfriend nudged him playfully, and Kurt wasn't certain he had seen such an effortless smile from Blaine outside of their most intimate moments in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I feel like I'm trying to sneak in the backdoor and falling over everything and making a lot of noise in the process. I really honestly want to return to this story, if you'll have me. I really don't want to leave it unfinished and literally I have it all plotted out, it just needs writing. I did seriously consider deleting this sequel and letting Perfect's Overdone do the talking, but it would need an ending revamp then and rewriting those last chapters to leave less unanswered seemed harder to me than just writing the rest of this fic. So that's how things are, but oh my goodness, please let me know if you think this was the right way to go.


	6. Joining Circles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: there are a few time jumps, but this all quite closely follows the season 3 canon so it's nothing too major!

It wasn't often that Blaine blushed in front of Kurt. He was a performer in all aspects of the word, and very little seemed to sway him around his boyfriend. They could be getting off in the back of a car in broad daylight and he wouldn't be shy at all, yet when they were sitting in Blaine's room after  _West Side Story_  rehearsals, he had his face buried in a pillow.

"Urpyaspedevwevavsex," he mumbled. Kurt arched an eyebrow at him, petting Blaine's hair gently.

"You're going to have to talk to me and not the pillow, unless that was the intention," he instructed. Blaine raised his head enough enunciate clearly.

"Artie asked if we had sex." He promptly returned to his previous position.

"No way! At rehearsal?" Kurt lay down beside Blaine and sighed. He could understand Blaine's response now.

"Yes! He just told Rachel and I that we couldn't be passionate enough if we didn't have the experience to back up what we were saying, and then he was like 'have either of you even had sex?' and Rachel tried to fill the silence with excuses, and then she realised that I hadn't said no and  _argh_. I didn't have to say it, they just knew what I meant, and… they wanted details."

"Oh no, she's going to tell Finn. I'm not going to be able to look at him for weeks," Kurt worried aloud.

"They were like…. 'You can't have sex! You're my precious innocent Blainers!' and then Rachel was like 'why didn't Kurt tell me?' and gave me no time to reply before all but yelling, 'it  _was_ with Kurt, riiiiiight?' It was so awful," Blaine elaborated. If the content wasn't what it was, Kurt would have been impressed by Blaine's impression of the girl.

"You didn't give them details though. Right?"

Blaine rolled over and propped himself up on one arm to face Kurt. "I promise I didn't reveal anything more than that we slept together."

"Rachel's going to ask me, you know. She's going to be so mad that I didn't tell her."

"You don't have to tell her everything, you know. Just because you're her best friend."

"I'm Mercedes' best friend. I'm Rachel's best gay." Blaine nodded knowingly.

"We're Brittany's unicorns, Rachel's best gays, and Hadley's rainbow people," he listed, "but more importantly we're each other's boyfriends, right?"

"More importantly, we're each other's everything," Kurt breathed, and soon enough he found himself laying beneath Blaine, who was clearly very interested in a heavy round of kissing.

* * *

Santana and Kurt had only ever really been anything resembling friends when they needed to be a united front against Rachel Berry in the past. Since Santana had come to out to him their relationship had definitely altered, but not so much that it was noticeable to anyone other than them. She had given him her tumblr URL, a sign of complete trust, especially as her blog contained little other than  _Xena Warrior Princess_ ,  _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ , and pictures of young women in lingerie. While it didn't really match up with Kurt's own blog's aesthetic (his was really more of a Broadway and pretty pictures blog, with the occasional  _Twilight_ post thrown in), he had followed it, and neither really mentioned it to anyone else. When they posted personal, diary like things, they would often end up with some kind of acknowledgement from the other, but neither would bring it into the real world.

The day that Santana came out to everyone (which, regretfully, was not quite at her own pace), she cornered Kurt at his locker and dragged him to their shared Chemistry class. They walked briskly as so that passers-by wouldn't be able to listen in, a technique that he was familiar with, but not so fast that they couldn't still talk. Kurt knew she must want something, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered.

"Is this about planning to murder Rachel again? While she's annoying, she isn't anywhere near as bad as you would think. And I'm not getting blood stains on another party cardigan," he said. Santana finally dropped her hold on his arm.

"Kurt, how the fuck do you have a boyfriend?" she asked. While she had never been one for subtlety, he tended to expect the things she said to be slightly softer around the edges than that.

"Excuse me?"

"How the hell did you meet another age appropriate, gay, actually into you guy? This is Lima, we don't have a GSA or anything, and like, outside of school I don't think any of your friends are straight, if I've understood what the others have to say properly. So, how do you do it?" Kurt wasn't sure exactly who had talked to Santana about his LARP friends, the group that did often look more like a LGBTQ+ support group than a superhero roleplaying club, but he was glad that they did and he was happy to help her out. He had been in exactly the same position when he had come out, and he had needed to be a lot more creative when it came to finding likeminded people to share his experiences with.

"I thought you were implying I'm a mountain troll or something," he said, making Santana smile at the very least, "I just happened to meet an amazing bunch of people and now I meet up with them a lot. You could come and meet them, if you wanted."

She lit up at the offer. "It's not going to be weird, is it?" Kurt paused for a moment, trying to interpret her question suitably.

"That depends why you think it would be weird."

"Because they're your group of friends and I'm just in glee club with you. The only other person I know is Blaine." He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's not the part you should be worried about," he assured her, not quite sure how she would react when she found out exactly what the group did together. They made plans for her to go with Blaine, Kurt, and Marley after glee club to check it out, even though Marley was obviously intimidated by her when they met.

It wasn't until Blaine and Marley emerged from Blaine's house in costume that Santana began to wonder what was going on. Much to her credit, Santana simply rolled her eyes and said, "What, you aren't going to put on a costume?" in Kurt's direction, far less phased by their happenings than he had expected her to be. He didn't know how she could be so calm about it.

"I don't have a lot of costume to put on," he said simply, though he happily put on Darcy's aviators to keep up with the play. Santana noticed, groaning slightly as she glared at him.

"You don't have to stay for the session if you don't want to," Blaine said, "we know it isn't exactly everyone's thing and we won't blame you if you want to just come and meet people and then flee."

When they arrived at the park they weren't surprised to find most of the others there already, chatting with one another as Jeff and Leo jumping around excitedly. A few of them called out greetings as the group got closer, and Kurt, Blaine, and Marley beelined to Erica with Santana in tow. They made the introductions, and Erica seemed happy to have another of their friends along, and informed her that Blaine and Kurt were positively sickening to watch.

Santana looped her arm through Kurt's and pulled her towards Jeff and Nick. While they weren't actually touching one another, it wasn't hard to see the look that Nick was giving his boyfriend. Santana had made a good choice in choosing the friends she wanted to meet first.

"Guys, this is Santana," Kurt introduced, and the boys said their hellos, "This is Jeff and his boyfriend Nick. She doesn't believe I know any other not-straight people."

"Well you have options here," Nick said, "Jeff's bi, and I'm something."

"Yeah, and Ethan and Leo are both gay, same as Kurt and Blaine," Jeff added.

"How about the girls?" Santana asked. Last Kurt had heard Brittany was  _it_ for Santana, but if truth be told he wasn't completely against the idea of her branching out a little more.

"Rory from the other group is pansexual, but we seem to have a distinct lack of girls in general," Jeff answered. While she seemed to be slightly disheartened by the news, she also didn't seem upset when they pointed out that Hadley was very much straight.

"You asked how we met people without a GSA. Well, this is it," Kurt said, "and we're kind of going to do our thing, so…"

"You can go now, if you want to," Blaine interrupted, "not that we want you to leave! But if you want to stay just remember that this could be a weird. Erica or Luke can talk you through it all."

"I might just go," Santana said, "unless these other girls are going to show up?" Kurt was almost saddened by how hopeful she was.

"Unlikely," Kurt admitted.

"So when do you two start being cute?"

"Um, we're always cute?" Blaine said.

"Erica told her that Nightbird and Darcy are vomit inducing," Kurt explained.

"Well, we'd better give the people what they want." Blaine wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist, and Kurt gave Santana a final reassuring smile as he pulled him away. When they finished the session Santana was long gone, but Kurt had received a text from her.

**Santana L.** _I hung around long enough to see you macking on your boyfriend. I vomited pixie dust. If I'm not at school for the rest of the year you will know why._

* * *

Kurt and Blaine spent a lot of time cuddling on the couch in his Kurt's living room. It was something they had kind of always done, even before they had been officially dating. They didn't even spring apart when they heard Burt coming the way that they had when they first began dating, either. It was one of the places that Kurt felt the most comfortable in the world; in Blaine's arms, where no one cared.

Except, suddenly, Blaine didn't seem to feel the same way. Where there used to be only comfort, now every time Kurt reached out to pull Blaine closer, he would shrug it off, and often put more space between them. The only thing that had changed in the last week was that Sam Evans was now staying with them.

Kurt shuffled closer to Blaine, who didn't have a lot of space to shuffle over into, and took his hand. Blaine flinched slightly at the contact. "Okay, what's up with you?" Kurt asked.

"Can we go up to your room?" Blaine asked shyly. Kurt furrowed his brow at him. "Please?" with a slight sigh, realising that there was a lot his boyfriend wasn't saying and wasn't about to in the living room, Kurt nodded and the two of them headed to his room.

"Okay, what's really up? We can't hang out in my room all the time, they totally already know that we're… you know," Kurt said. While he had gotten much better at talking about sex, he still wasn't comfortable with saying things so loudly, especially when they weren't home by themselves.

"I'm not comfortable in your living room anymore," Blaine said, glancing to the open door before he continued, "I'm not comfortable around Sam and Finn."

"But you and Finn used to get along so well! And… ugh."

"They don't like me, Kurt. They never listen to me. They just think that I'm some guy who waltzed in and wanted to steal their show, but you know what? They can have it. I didn't transfer to McKinley to become the leading man of your glee club. I  _had_ that at Dalton. I transferred because what I didn't have was  _you_." Blaine sat down on Kurt's bed, folding his hands in his lap. Kurt just wanted to wrap him up and keep him safe forever.

"Oh, honey," he said gently, taking a seat beside him. "You liked Sam when he first got here. He's so into superheroes and stuff, I thought you were bound to get along. And I mean, he's cute, isn't he?" Kurt nudged him playfully, Blaine cracking a smile. "I'm going to talk to Finn. But we need you for Sectionals.  _Need_ you. Without Rachel you're one of our best team members, and the Troubletones are going to be  _good_. You shouldn't have to be afraid of the jocks in  _glee club_ , B. You should feel safe enough to speak up when you aren't comfortable." Blaine leaned his head on Kurt's shoulder, and Kurt in turn wrapped an arm around his boyfriend.

"Thanks," Blaine said, bringing both of his arms up to properly hug his boyfriend. Kurt adjusted, letting Blaine snuggle into him. This was what he wanted to have all the time, Finn and Sam be damned.

* * *

Blaine stormed out of dance rehearsal the next day. While Kurt was used to fighting over solos, never before had he experienced anything like he just watched happen with Blaine. Finn and Sam were aggressive in a way that Rachel never was- Kurt guessed it came down to an alpha male battle. There was a lot of testosterone in the room, especially since they had lost all their girls to the Troubletones. He worried about his boyfriend a lot, but he couldn't follow. He knew it wasn't his fight. He had talked to Finn, and as soon as Blaine had cleared the room and enough glares were thrown around, Finn had followed.

It didn't leave Kurt with many options about what to do. Blaine had snapped because Kurt had told him to stand up for himself. He had to just let it play itself out, let Finn and Blaine work on it without his intervention. He had told them both what he thought about it already, and he knew it would work out.

Or he hoped really hard, anyway.

He was a bit concerned when he still hadn't heard from either of them long after glee practice had ended, when he got home and Finn's car wasn't parked outside. He set about distracting himself- sewing up the costumes he had agreed to for Tina, making a start on dinner, trying to do his reading for his classes- without much luck. When Blaine's name finally appeared on his screen, he couldn't answer the call fast enough.

"Blaine, hel-"

" _Kurt!"_ Blaine sniffed.

"Have you been crying?" he asked, knowing how protective of his boyfriend he was being. If he had to cut a bitch he would. Or maybe he would just leave some bones in Finn's plate of dinner. Something, anyway.

" _Yes, but like, in a good way,"_ came the sincere response.

"Oh?"

" _Yeah, I don't even know what to say. I think we worked it out."_

"That's great, B. Why all the tears, though?"

" _I'm just… overwhelmed. Finn and I can work together now, and he said I'm talented, and… and we can kiss in your living room again. Kurt-"_  Blaine sighed dreamily.  _"I love you so much."_

"I love you too. Rest up, okay? We've got a lot more practice ahead of us in the next week."

" _Yeah. Yes. I'll text you later?"_

"Absolutely. See you tomorrow, honey," Kurt said. Blaine sighed softly again.

" _Thanks for everything."_  Kurt wasn't sure exactly what Blaine was trying to pinpoint by that, but he knew that it was something that he meant with his whole heart.

* * *

Post-sectionals, everyone could finally breathe again. The Troubletones had reunited with the New Directions, the competition season hiatus of the LARP was over, and all of Kurt's life felt like it settled into place. It only seemed fitting that he spent some time hanging out with his friends, from all his circles. The party he co-hosted with his boyfriend at Blaine's house was just what they all needed to unwind and relax back into their daily life that wasn't being heightened by constant competition.

"Yo Lady Lips," Santana called out, "when's the good stuff coming out?" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"It's three in the afternoon, we're not about to start drinking," he replied. "Can I deter you from "the good stuff"," he made air quotes, "by introducing you to one of our charming LARP friends you failed to meet when you visited us?"

Santana narrowed her eyes at him. "Is this the mysterious queer girl?"

"Absolutely. Rory!" Kurt called, ending up with two people wheeling around to face him. He had forgotten about the charming Irish exchange student in his excitement. "Um, Lorelai Rory, sorry," he clarified. Rory rolled her eyes at him and sauntered over.

"Don't call me Lorelai," she said by way of greeting, "can I help you?"

"Rory, this is Santana. Tana, Rory. I'll just leave you to it." He slipped out immediately, hurrying to his boyfriend's side. The girls were still talking, but it became clear to him that he hadn't been the most delicate or subtle person in the world in the moment.

"Are you trying to set those two up?" Blaine asked, "I don't think Santana is really emotionally available for a girlfriend."

"Santana needs some girls who like girls, whether or not she dates them," Kurt rationalises, still watching the pair. Blaine wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him to his side.

"You're right. It will be good for them both. Even if LARPing wasn't ever really going to appeal to Santana, I'm glad she could get something out of it from us." Rachel more or less skipped over to them and seemed to consider pushing her way between the couple before thinking better of it.

"Can I meet your other gay friends?" she asked excitedly, "being raised by two men myself I feel particularly in tune with gay men more than I am with most other people, so I just  _know_  I'll love them!"

Kurt rolled his eyes, receiving a small smirk from Blaine in response. They had this understanding between them that Rachel couldn't ever fully comprehend what it was to be gay, to be called a "best gay" or a "gay friend". When she called them their friends without any descriptors, they would know that she actually learnt something about it all from her dads.

Kurt pointed out Leo and Ethan, their only actual friends who were gay, and when she gestured towards Nick and Jeff who were cuddled up together, Blaine simply replied with, "you don't have to be gay to be dating someone the same gender as you, Rachel." She had to pause for a moment then to work out what that even meant.

"But they  _are_  a gay couple," she amended.  _Still nope_ , Kurt thought.

"Not how it works," Rory said. Kurt hadn't even noticed that she and Santana too had joined them. It seemed like perhaps there were a few too many concepts there for Rachel to understand in one day. If she came away with  _dating someone of the same gender doesn't make them gay_ , then they could call it a success.

Later on when Blaine nudged Kurt and pointed out the heart eyes Rory was making at Santana, he wasn't exactly surprised, but didn't have high expectations for them. Blaine had been right; Santana wasn't really ready for a girlfriend, even someone as awesome as Rory. "She likes her," Kurt thought aloud, and Blaine hummed in agreement. "You know where I've seen that look before?"

Blaine giggled. "I think I have a pretty good idea."

 


End file.
